


You Always Knew

by PunkRyuki



Category: Free!
Genre: Fluff and Angst, M/M, Minor Nanase Haruka/Tachibana Makoto, Mystery, Rei is an oblivious dork, Sexual Tension, Slow Burn, Suspense
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-14
Updated: 2014-09-14
Packaged: 2018-02-17 10:02:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,033
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2305748
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PunkRyuki/pseuds/PunkRyuki
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Alternate Title: The 7 Times Rei Didn't Get It and the 1 Time He Did</p><p>Rei becomes friends with the boy who would follow him everywhere, but Nagisa has a secret that everyone seems to know except him! What ever could it be?</p>
            </blockquote>





	You Always Knew

**Author's Note:**

  * For [nacos](https://archiveofourown.org/users/nacos/gifts).



> This fic is a birthday present for my sister, who is a big Reigisa fan. So I've taken a few liberties with this story, mainly the complete lack of adult supervision. But that's a common thing for animes anyway. Also, I've chosen to exclude some tags and warnings, so as not to ruin some of my surprises. ;3 Enjoy the fluff!

 

     It took Rei four days before he even noticed the blond haired kid had been stalking him. Now he wondered how he could have been so oblivious to that wide-eyed stare. The kid hadn’t been all that subtle. Only on the fifth day of the boy following him during his morning jog did Rei finally stop and confront him.

     “What do you want?” he had asked tersely.

     “I want you to join the swimming club,” the stalker’s voice sounded a bit high-pitched for a boy his age, but Rei could tell that it could have a lower tone. Perhaps when he wasn’t trying to act cute.

     “Our school doesn’t have a swimming club.”

     The boy held up a finger. “Ah, but it will once you join.”

     “No thanks. I’m already in track.” Deciding the conversation finished, Rei continued his jog to the bus stop, but hands clasping his elbow anchored him in place.

     “I know. I’ve seen how beautiful your pole vault is, but I really think you belong in swimming.”

     Looking back, that had been the moment he had lost. At the time, he had just shyly pushed his spectacles up his nose and spouted a long monologue on how he had perfected the whole theory of track to achieve the most beautiful form, but every night afterward, he would fall asleep to the sound of the boy’s voice calling him beautiful like a track set on repeat. No wonder he and Nagisa had become friends.

     Still, it took Nagisa three months to get him to quit track and finally join the swim team. He had spent the entire time bribing him with movie tickets for them both, coffee and cakes at his favorite café, bread from the cafeteria (after Nagisa had tried to make him a bento and nearly gave him food poisoning), even a couple of sleepovers where they stayed up all night playing video games, making them both late for cram school. He even gave him a key chain of some creepy bird in a speedo, claiming it to be their team mascot.

     In the end, the turning point had been when he passed by one of the first year classrooms that inspired him to finally join. An empty desk in the classroom had a bouquet of flowers on it. The bouquet was simple: a single white lily surrounded by a litter of white and pink carnations ‒ likely the student who had bought it was on a budget. Probably some student was sick in the hospital or something, but the flowers inevitably made him think of Nagisa. He was as pure and innocent as those flowers. And just as soft, he remembered with a blush, recalling that one night Nagisa had decided to snuggle with him on the couch. A perfectly normal thing to do with your one and only really good friend.

     Rei knew he had been standing there, spacing out for too long when the students inside the classroom began to stare back with concerned looks and whispering to one another, so he headed to the rooftop pool, where he usually met Nagisa for lunch.

     The rooftop pool hadn’t been used in over a year. No one dared to touch it, let alone sit by it and eat lunch like those two did. When Rei had asked his friend about it, he had said, “There’s a rumor that two students had drowned in the pool a year ago. Some say it was a double murder, others say it had been a lovers’ suicide.” The magenta-eyed boy shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t know if any of it’s true, but that’s why I’ve had such a hard time trying to revive the swim club. True or not, no one wants to mess with this place.”

     “Everyone thinks it’s haunted,” Rei surmised. The people of Iwatobi were really superstitious.

     The topic always seemed to depress Nagisa, although he never gave up on his goal. Luckily, Rei had some good news for him this time. When his friend finally arrived, he couldn’t contain himself any longer and blurted out “I’ve decided to join the swim team.”

     The look of utter joy on Nagisa’s face had been so bright, it made him wonder why he hadn’t done this sooner. Suddenly, he found himself with an armful of his friend and honey blond hair in his face.

     “Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you!”

     Nagisa was a hot weight in his arms, making him sweat and flush as if he had just run a marathon. He could smell his melon-scented shampoo (the same shampoo he had used on one of their sleepovers) and the general smell of teenage boy. Just as he had decided to wrap his arms around the happily squirming body. Nagisa leapt to his feet, pumping his fists up and down excitedly.

     “Maybe now we can get permission to fix up the pool.” Nagisa was bouncing bodily now. “Then maybe other students will want to join.”

     “I’ll go ask my homeroom teacher, see if we can get permission to clean and use the pool,” Rei offered. Nagisa had already done so much. “For now, let’s eat lunch. You look like you’re about to launch into space.” He would make a cute astronaut.

     He obediently sat down on the bench next to Rei and took out his usual cafeteria lunch, while Rei politely munched on his bento. When Nagisa opened his last bag of bread and eagerly chomped on it, he realized something.

     “Did you not buy me some bread too?” He didn’t mean to sound pouty, but this was the first day since they properly met that Nagisa hadn’t bought him bread from the school cafeteria.

     “Oh, I’m sorry, Rei-chan. I failed my math test, so my parents reduced my allowance.”

     “No, no. That was a kindness you did me, not something to be expected.” He was not a stray cat. “How about I buy you bread from now on to pay you back for all the times you did it for me?”

     “Oh, no, you don’t have to‒”

     “No, I want to.” He took Nagisa’s hands in his own. As a sign of their friendship, of course.

     For some reason, Nagisa blushed, which made Rei blush in turn, and quickly release his fingers. After that, Nagisa became uncharacteristically silent. Curious, Rei turned to look at him, all boyishly happy features missing from Nagisa’s face. He had never seen him look so serious.

     “Rei, listen…” Oh, Rei had been right about his voice being able to drop lower. It sent a pleasant tingle down his spine. “There’s something you need to know.”

     But just as Rei was about to ask what that something was, the bell rang signifying the end of the lunch period. His friend flinched, and the moment was gone.

    “Never mind. Come on, Rei-chan,” he said with his usual childish bluster. “We got to leave, or we’ll be late for class, and the teachers will scold us.”

     Rei just nodded, feeling as if he had just missed something terribly important, but didn’t think of it ever again.

 

 

     Quitting track had been strangely uneventful. Rei had been so nervous about turning in his resignation form to the captain. After all, he was one of their best pole-vaulters, and he was only a first year, but when he handed the document to the captain, he had just nodded his head in solemn resignation. Perhaps he had foreseen this coming with how much he talked about Nagisa to his teammates. Rei had expected more of a fight. His former captain was obviously sad to see him go.

     Even asking Amakata-sensei for permission to use the pool had been strange. She had looked at him like he had told her a particularly difficult riddle.

     “Is this about Nagisa-kun?” Then she slapped her hands over her mouth as if she had just said something terribly rude.

     “Well, yes, of course,” he scrunched his eyebrows in confusion. She knew they were trying to form the swim club. Of course, Nagisa was involved.

     “I’m so sorry,” and she really looked like she meant it. “Normally, we wouldn’t open up that pool, but for you, we can make an exception.”

     He didn’t understand why he would be an exception, but thanked her properly, and took his permission slip and left before she could change her mind. Just as he passed the threshold to the teacher’s lounge, he heard her sigh “that poor boy.”

     What did she mean by that? On that thought, why had she acted so cagey when she mentioned Nagisa, as though she wasn’t supposed to? Were they keeping a secret from him?

 

 

     After school the next day, Nagisa introduced him to the club’s two other members. They were both second years and had been in the same swim team as Nagisa in elementary school. Haruka had simply nodded a greeting, and Makoto smiled warmly like a proud mother.

     “Why did you never introduce us before?” Rei asked his friend. He had thought it was just the two of them.

     “I kind of forgot,” Nagisa shrugged and stuck out his tongue in an “oops” sort of manner. Sometimes he could act like those cutesy “little sister” type idols. “Now you see why I knew you belonged with us; we all have girly names.”

     The tall one stepped up to Rei. “Haru and I are really glad you joined our team,” Makoto said, green eyes kind. “We’ve only been able to swim in the ocean when it gets warm. It’ll be nice to have a place to practice after school.”

     “Yeah, but you still have to wait for warm weather to swim,” Nagisa pouted.

     “It’ll take a while to fix the pool,” Rei added. “By the time we finish, it’ll be warm enough.”

     “Then let’s get started!” Nagisa pumped his fist into the air.

     Rei had been right about the work taking a long time. It felt like he was doing the work of three people. He almost accused the others of slacking off, but every time he looked up from weeding, he would see them all hard at work.

     They all had fun while putting in the extra time though. Rei learned that Haru didn’t like being called Haruka at all, and Makoto had younger twin siblings. Haru didn’t say much, but when he did, it was something profoundly interesting or unintentionally funny. He seemed to embody the virtue “think before you speak.” Nagisa made up for his silence in spades though, and Makoto spoke enough to keep the conversation going. Rei felt a sort of kinship with Haru. His conversations with Nagisa were normally one-sided, but he was always content to listen to the sound of Nagisa’s voice, even if he was talking about penguins regurgitating fish. He wondered if this was how Haru felt with Makoto. The two had such a strong feeling of camaraderie and a seemingly telepathic link that only came from childhood friends.

     In the end, it took a week and a half to get the pool fully functional. As soon as Makoto gave the all clear, Haru stripped ‒ apparently he frequently wore his bathing suit under his clothes ‒ and dove into the pool. He had this weird thing about water. Never had Rei seen anyone move about as gracefully in the water as Haru did. It was as if he were made of water himself.

     As for Rei, he stood at the edge of the pool in his newly bought black speedo. Nagisa had helped him buy it yesterday (which had been weird, because he refused to take the bus to the mall. Rei couldn’t remember him ever having a problem with buses before) after school. His friend had wanted him to buy this yellow monstrosity with a penguin on the back. He had made some joke about marking his territory, which Rei didn’t really get.

     Makoto had been next in the pool, gliding along on his back, smiling peacefully up at the sun. “Come in, guys. The water feels pretty warm.”

     Nagisa had grabbed his hand to lead him to the pool, but stopped when he realized that the body attached to the arm wasn’t coming along. “What’s wrong, Rei-chan?”

     “I-uh, don’t know how…to swim,” Rei mumbled, unable to look everyone in the eye. How foolish had he been to join the swim team just for a boy, when he didn’t even know how to swim. “I’ve read up on all of the theory.”

     “That’s ok,” Makoto swam to the edge of the pool. “We’ll teach you.” He really did remind Rei of his mother. If his mother was 73 kilograms of back muscle.

     “Yeah, come on, Rei-chan,” Nagisa gently guided him to the ladder.

     Makoto was right: the pool did feel nice and warm, strange since it hadn’t been that hot. Rei felt his muscles instantly relax. Between that and Makoto’s soothing voice, he was as limp as a noodle.

     “I find it’s easiest to start with the backstroke,” Makoto explained, standing next to him in the water. “Do you know how to float on your back?”

     Rei nodded. He could do that at least.

     “Alright, float on your back. I’ll hold you up to be sure.” Makoto’s hand was a reassuring weight on his back. “Ok, now move your arms over your head like an oar and kick your legs.”

     Rei could remember this from various technical books he had studied. Your arms pushed the water under you, while your legs propelled you forward.

     “Wow, you’ve got pretty good form,” Makoto said with an honesty Rei was surprised he believed. “This should be a no brainer for you, then. Ok, I’m going to let you go now.”

     Makoto’s hand left his back, and Rei could feel himself gliding slowly but steadily through the water. Yes! He was doing it. He was finally swimming.

     But soon the water was over him instead of under him. Despite continuing as he had been before he was sinking. It felt as if an inescapable _something_ was pulling him down. He could hear voices, muffled by the water, though alarmed in tone. Then the glint of the sun was replaced with Haru’s eyes, as deep a blue as the ocean, and then he was sinking, drowning in Haru’s eyes instead. His limbs stilled by his side, trapped by the warm blanket of water.

     Suddenly, one voice rang out clear, as if shouting or even inside his head. He knew that sound. He had heard it many times on the bus ride to school and in his dreams. Nagisa was calling his name as if someone was tearing him apart, limb from limb. He struggled against the water. He had to get to Nagisa and stop whatever was causing him to sound like that.

     Then hands were pulling him up instead of down, and he was breathing air instead of water, which was violently coming out of his lungs. He could hear many different voices calling his name, noticeably Nagisa’s.

     “Oh god, oh god, Rei-chan, are you ok?”

     “I don’t understand. He’d been doing so well. His technique was perfect.”

     “Maybe the water doesn’t like him.”

     “Haru!”

     Trembling, Rei sat up from where he had been dragged out of the pool. “I think I should try breaststroke next.”

     Nagisa helped him up. “That will have to wait for another time. You’ve had too much excitement for one day, I think.”

     “I still want to swim,” Haru pouted.

     “Nagisa, why don’t you take Rei home,” Makoto suggested. “I’ll stay here with Haru. Make sure you take the bus with him, ok?”

     The vicious glare Nagisa sent to Makoto seemed uncalled for, especially when Makoto was smiling gently back, but when Rei blinked his eyes, Nagisa was back to his usual self.

      “I can’t take the bus,” Nagisa said, then turned to Rei. “I’ll walk you as far as I can go though.” What was up with him and buses?

      At Rei’s dazed nod, they changed into their uniforms and headed out of the school. The bus wasn’t very far from the school, especially if you took the shortcut across some empty hills. The roads in Iwatobi were narrow, built before the invention of cars, and only really busy closer to the harbor or downtown. The area around the bus stop was relatively quiet, especially after all the students had already left. So it wasn’t until he had reached the sign that he realized Nagisa was still some ways back.

      “Nagisa?”

      “I’m sorry, Rei-chan. I’ll have to leave you here.”

      “What? Why?”

      Nagisa just shook his head sadly.

      Somewhere in the distance, a car horn blared. Probably two cars trying to fit on these narrow roads. Rei didn’t think anything of it, but Nagisa’s eyes got impossibly wide. He thought he heard some loud high-pitched noise, like nails on a chalkboard or tires skidding across the pavement. When Rei blinked, Nagisa had disappeared.

 

 

     “Why did you run off on me like that, Nagisa?”

     That blond head hung low in shame. Good. Rei was getting tired of all these bizarre secrets around his friend. He hoped his glasses were giving off that menacing glare that happened sometimes.

     “I’m so sorry, Rei-chan,” clasped his hands over his head, praying for forgiveness. “I suddenly remembered something that I had to do ‒”

     “Excuse my language, but that’s crap and you know it.” Nagisa looked appropriately scared, as he should be. Rei had never used that tone of voice with him, not even when he had accidentally sat on his glasses and broken them. He just wanted to know what was going on.

     Nagisa remained silent for a moment before tentatively speaking. “Hey, Rei-chan. Suppose there was something you wanted to tell your friend, a secret that might hurt him, but he’s been much happier not knowing. What would you do?”

     “Having secrets kept from him is really hurting and confusing your friend,” Rei answered. “Tell him.”

     “But it would definitely make him sad. So long as he doesn’t know, we can keep swimming together, just like I always wanted.” Now Nagisa was gazing up at him with watery eyes. Damn. He’s never been able to resist those puppy dog eyes of his. He couldn’t resist wrapping his arms around those trembling shoulders, chin resting in that melon-scented hair.

     Was this secret really so terrible? Rei couldn’t imagine him doing anything that would truly destroy their friendship, not even murder. He was starting to wonder if he should even push it.

     “Ryuugazaki-kun?”

     For a second, he almost didn’t respond. He turned around to find one of his classmates, a girl with crimson hair and eyes, tilting her head in query. “What are you doing out here? Class has already started?”

     Oh. He had completely forgotten where they were. Probably best not to have such a sensitive conversation in the hallway. “I’m sorry. I’ll return to class straight away. Nagi‒” But when Rei turned his head, his friend was gone. Dammit! He was going to have to put a bell on that boy.

 

 

     Swimming club that afternoon had been an interesting affair. Nagisa never showed up, which had alarmed him greatly, but there was really nothing he could do about it. Since he was supposed to teach him breaststroke, it came down to Haru to teach him freestyle. He lacked the maternal gentleness of Makoto, but was no less patient.

     “You need to cut your hand through the water, speak with it.” Haru moved his arm for him in a smooth motion. “Let the water accept you and pull you through it.” He rocked Rei’s body side to side so he could gasp for breath. “And accept the water in return. Let it surround you.”

     Rei didn’t really understand all that his sempai was saying, but he knew the theory behind it. Although freestyle can be any stroke, it generally was expected for you to do the forward crawl. Haru liked to stress the free in freestyle.

     Just like with the backstroke, Rei’s technique seemed perfect, but when Haru released him, he began to sink. Maybe his sempai was right. The water did seem out to get him. It swallowed him up, and in his panic, he flailed about and forgot that he could stand in this pool. When he tried to right himself, to reach the surface, that _something_ came back and pulled him down, down, down in to the seemingly bottomless depths, and ‒

     And then he heard Nagisa’s voice. As clear as it had been yesterday, it called out his name with such distress. His ears were ringing with some high-pitched screech, and then he was crashing through the surface.

     “Rei!” Makoto’s strong arms pulled him up, out of the pool. “Are you ok?”

     He nodded, lungs finally calming down. Why could he not swim? He had athletic capability. He knew the theory, had done the calculations. That was all it had taken for track. Was he simply cursed?

     “Maybe we should take a break?” Makoto patted him on the shoulder. Rei felt the strongest urge to say “thanks, mom.”

   Haru nodded before jumping into the pool. A break for him must mean being in the water.

     The two of them sat on the bench, drying in the sun. A stray breeze chilled his still wet skin, making him shiver. He really wished he had his glasses. Without his prescription goggles on, everything was fuzzy. He could hear the other after school clubs practicing. The baseball team was especially spirited today. They spent a while like that, just sitting next to each other, listening to Haru's splashing.

    “Rei,” Makoto finally broke the peaceful quiet, still watching the clouds. “Why did you decide to join the swimming club?”

    “To be with Nagisa,” he answered instantly, without thought.

    “And could you not be with Nagisa outside of swim club?”

    That one was harder to answer. “Well, yeah, we kind of did before.”

    “And are you having fun so far?” Now Makoto looked at him.

    Nearly drowning wasn't his idea of a good time. “Are you trying to make me quit the team?”

    Rei didn't expect that to earn a laugh. “Quite the opposite actually. I'm afraid that your hardships with swimming will make you give up. I'm being quite selfish in wanting you to stay. Without you, we wouldn't have the club.”

    Rei smiled at that. It should hurt his feelings, just being a placeholder member, but it made him feel needed and useful, even if he couldn't swim.

    “Did you know, when Haru and I were younger,” Makoto wore a nostalgic smile now, “he didn't want to join the swim team.”

    “Really?” Now that was surprising. “But he's such a natural.”

    “It may surprise you, but Haru used to be very anti-social.”

    What do you mean “used to?”

    “It was only after I pleaded and begged that he finally joined, and people saw how amazing he could be.”

     A nearby splash alerted them to Haru exiting the pool and coming towards them. “Stop gossiping about unimportant things like one of the neighborhood wives.”

     He was embarrassed, Rei realized. Makoto must have come to the same conclusion, because his smile took a teasing edge to it. “I was just trying to help Rei.”

     “You're being too roundabout with it.” Haru then turned to look directly at Rei, face set in a determined stare. “Nagisa is—”

     Makoto leapt up and slapped his hands over Haru's mouth. “Now, now, Haru. He has to realize it on his own.”

     “Realize what?” Did everyone but him know?

     “Sorry,” Makoto smiled apologetically at him, as he kept his grip on a struggling Haru. “That's not our secret to tell.”

     Rei was really getting tired of this coming up. Now he didn't feel like swimming. “I'm sorry, sempai, but I think I'll head home now.”

 

 

     His day started off waking up from a nightmare that he couldn't remember. Already it was slipping through his fingers, but the anxiety was still there. To make his day even better, he had completely forgotten to study for his history test that morning and had probably bombed it.

     “I should see if Haruka-sempai has any notes,” he muttered to himself. He seemed like the studious type.

     “Who's Haruka?” one of his classmates asked him with a conspiratorial grin and an arm around his shoulder. “Your girlfriend?”

     “Of course not.” He pushed his glasses up his nose to keep himself from pushing the boy's arm off of his shoulder. “Haruka is a boy.” Luckily, that got the over-familiar boy to back off.

     The teacher walked into the room, and his mere presence caused everyone to go back to their seats. Everyone worked on pulling out the necessary materials, but Rei hesitated when he felt a heavy pressure on his back. He looked up, but everyone was digging into their packs. Glancing over his shoulders, he found crimson eyes staring at him before they blinked away. Weird. But that was hardly the strangest thing that had happened to him lately.

     He never felt that pressure again, but that feeling of anxiety stayed.

 

 

     The first time Rei saw Nagisa since their argument in the hallway, he had just slipped his swimsuit over his hips in the changing room. In punishment for that small feeling of disappointment, he dropped his school bag on his toes. The sharp edge of his physics book dug into his big toe.

     Nagisa greeted him with a smile, then led him outside after patiently waiting for him to change. The sky held a fuzzy blanket of grey clouds left over from that morning's rain, so the water was not as warm as it had been. The shiver that crawled up his body left him feeling a bit uncomfortable in spandex.

     “Where are Makoto-sempai and Haruka-sempai?” Strange that they weren't here already.

     “I asked them not to come today,” Nagisa said. “I just wanted one more day before we teach you butterfly stroke. Just one more day of only the two of us.”

     “Nagisa, what are you talking about?” Rei stood rock still as the blond moved closer to him in the water. “We could always spend time together after practice and during lunch.”

     Nagisa just shook his head, moving closer, so close. The water in between them was barely big enough for a goldfish to swim through. He looked up at him with a small smile. “I thought I'd teach you breaststroke today.”

     Rei nodded, heart already racing a mile, and he hadn't even begun swimming yet. He automatically moved into position, goggles on, Nagisa's hand on his stomach.

     “I'm sure you have already perfected the theory,” Nagisa laughed. Rei could imagine the smile on his face. “So simply start swimming, and I'll correct your form before I let you go.”

     He nodded, before he realized that he was just dunking his face in the water repeatedly. He pushed his hands through the water, then propelled through, kicking both of his legs simultaneously. Rei always wondered why this wasn't called frog stroke, because that was how he felt right now.

     “Cup your hands more,” Nagisa told him. And try to move your legs together in time.”

     He did so, and felt himself moving forward. Nagisa's hand remained in place, holding up his stomach, as he moved through the pool. He knew that Nagisa's hand was the only thing keeping him afloat. He could almost imagine he was swimming on his own.

     Then suddenly he was going down instead of forward. Oh no, he was going to drown again. He tried to right himself, but the water kept swallowing him up. Where had Nagisa's hand gone? Which way was up? He wanted to scream in terror to block out that horrible screeching noise, but he knew that as soon as he did, his lungs would fill with water.

     Oh, Nagisa was right in front of him, no goggles, so Rei could see his magenta eyes glint pink in the filtered sunlight. Then two hands gently pulled his head towards his lips and air was being pushed into his mouth. Ok, wow, Nagisa was kissing him, literally breathing life into his lungs. He looked so ethereal like this, golden hair dancing back and forth. The patterns of the water's surface on his skin made him shimmer as if he were some heavenly spirit. The screeching had faded away, and with it, Rei's panic. The world began to right itself, and soon the water fell beneath them, and they were standing in the pool. The whole time, Nagisa's lips never left his, hands still holding his head in place.

     Now that he was no longer in danger of drowning. Rei moved his hands to Nagisa's waist, but his friend broke the kiss, pulling back and away. Nagisa was smiling at him a bit apprehensively.

     “Thank you,” he stammered out. That was really lame, but he supposed he had just saved his life.

     Nagisa giggled. “You're welcome.”

     “So was that the secret you've been hiding from me?”

     “Oh no. That was something already understood. You always knew that was true.” Now he looked down at the water. “I'll tell you the secret tomorrow. Just...” He took Rei's hand. His grip was so slack it barely felt like it was there at all. “Can we leave the pool now? I want to go to the park, where we can be truly alone.”

     Rei thought they were pretty alone up here, but didn't feel like drowning again either. Besides, on weekdays, especially Tuesdays, the park was empty, and there was a clearing in the wooded area they had found before which was perfect for escaping from the world. So they changed and headed to the park, not a word between them, but the weight of their kiss heavy in the air.

     At Nagisa's gesture when they entered the clearing, they laid down on the soft grass, and watched the clouds together. Already, Rei couldn't remember what Nagisa's lips had felt like, couldn't remember if they had been rough or soft, warm or chilled from the pool. They didn't make a sound, but at some point, Nagisa's hand crept into his, and Rei couldn't think of any other place he'd rather be.

 

 

      Parting from Nagisa had been trying, but he was already pretty late going home. His parents had been worried, but didn't punish him. He'd have to make sure to return home on time today.

      Class in the morning had been normal, although he felt that pressure on his back again. Rei didn't fully understand why this crimson haired girl who had barely given him a second glance before was suddenly boring a hole into his back. He told Nagisa as much at lunch.

     “Maybe she's a stalker,” he suggested around a mouthful of anko bread.

     “Like you were?” Rei raised a single eyebrow, daring him to argue.

     “I was not.”

     “Oh really?” You call following someone to and from school and showing up uninvited at their house not stalking?”

     “Ok, maybe a little. I guess you just attract weirdos.”

     “I only need the one, thanks.” He pulled Nagisa into a side hug and kissed his hair. He really wanted to kiss his lips, since he still couldn't remember how they had felt yesterday, but wasn't sure how welcome it would be outside of a CPR context.

     Lunch ended entirely too early, as he imagined it probably always would from now on. Classes were a blur of Not Nagisa and thus hard to focus on. He wanted to run to the roof immediately after class, but had been cornered by his new stalker.

     “Ryuugazaki-kun,” she greeted him, face serious.

     “Yes, umm...Matsuoka-san?” He really hoped that was her name.

     “I overheard you the other day say you know a boy called Haruka?”

     “Yes. He's my sempai in the swim club.”

     She looked startled at that. “There is no swim club.”

     “Yes, there is. We only recently formed it, so word probably hasn't gotten around yet.” He shifted his glasses in annoyance. He didn't appreciate being called a liar.

     “Oh, I'm sorry. You must be right. It's just...My older brother had a friend who was a boy named Haruka.” She nervously toed at the ground.

     “Does your brother also swim? It might be the same Haruka.”

     “The Haruka my brother knew died a year ago.”

     “Oh. My condolences. Must be a coincidence then.”

     “The Haruka my brother knew drowned in this school's pool with his childhood friend Makoto Tachibana.”

     Rei nearly dropped his bag. No, it couldn't possibly... “They can't be the same people. I just saw them the other day.” She had to be joking.

     “Do you really believe that?” She didn't look like she was joking. “Everyone says the pool is cursed, and only you and Nagisa ever went up there, and look how that turned out.” Now what was that supposed to mean?

     “You can follow me to the roof, and I'll show you.”

     The girl nodded, and then they were heading upstairs. When they got to the door leading to the outside, as soon as he walked through, the door slammed shut behind him. Nagisa stood there, calmly turning the deadbolt. On the other side of the door, Matsuoka was pounding on it's frame, demanding that Rei open it right now.

     "Nagisa, why did you lock her out?” Sure he could act a little bratty when he thought he was being cute, but he had never been down-right rude like this.

     “She was going to tell you the secret. I wanted to be the one to do it.”

     “Come on, Rei,” Makoto and Haruka were behind him now. “You still need to learn butterfly stroke.”

     “But I haven't changed yet.” It was gonna be kind of hard now that they locked the door.

     “That doesn't matter,” Haru shook his head.

     Rei dropped his bag on the ground, and moved to take a step towards the pool before a strange sensation of vertigo washed over him, leaving him nauseous. “Wait, no. Why would I do that? Why did you guys lock Matsuoka-san out?”

     The two sempais shared a look before Makoto spoke in his kind, maternal voice. “Well, there's really no point in keeping it a secret any longer. You were going to find out today, regardless.” He shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly.

     Haru stepped forward and said in his usual blunt manner, “Gou Matsuoka is the little sister of a friend of ours. That's why she recognized our names even though we're dead.”

     Wait, dead?

     “That's right, we're dead,” Makoto said as if it were a comfort. “We're the two boys who drowned in this pool over a year ago. It was during the summer break, before we started school, which is why not many students know it was us.” His hand fell to Rei's shoulder, a cold, dead weight.

     “How could you guys drown in this pool?” A new wave of nausea hit him, and he had to push down the bile. “It's only one and a half meters deep.”

     “The same way you almost do,” Haru countered.

     Makoto stepped forward to explain the rest. “You remember that feeling of Something pulling you down? There's Something in the water. It used to terrify me as a kid. I had seen it kill so many fishermen. When I saw Haru in this pool, I had thought for sure that the Something was getting him too. I dove in and tried to rescue him.” The fingers on Rei's shoulder squeezed. “That's when I realized the Something wasn't anything to run from. That we should accept its pull, and then we could be in the water together, forever. Haru wouldn't follow Rin to Australia, and we wouldn't have to graduate high school and go to different colleges or get jobs.” Makoto left him to cradle Haru's impassive face in his hands. “We could swim together in an eternal summer.”

     Haru actually cracked a smile now, which didn't help the chills that Rei was feeling. “Is that what you plan to do to Nagisa and me? Have you cursed us because we always ate lunch by this pool?”

     “We chose you because you wanted to swim,” Makoto answered at the same time Haru said, “It's too late for Nagisa to join us.”

     Rei latched onto that last one. Oh lord, that screeching noise was ringing in his ears again, tearing through his head. “What about Nagisa?” He turned around frantically. Where was Nagisa? He dared to look outside the pool, but luckily it was empty. Finally, he turned around and Nagisa was standing behind him, smiling sadly in his school uniform. He ran over to hug him, to make sure he was there, but felt nothing. Literally nothing. No warmth, no scratch of fabric, as if he were holding air.

     He stepped back. “Nagisa?” That screeching noise was getting louder, more distinct. “Why can't you go on buses?”

     “I was trying to protect you, Rei-chan,” his head hung low, at just the right angle to reflect the sun. “I knew if you saw me near a road, you would remember, and then you'd be sad. You had been so sad before, I just wanted to give you a few more days of happiness, but those two kept pushing you.” That glare was back and directed at the two ghosts.

     “Nagisa,” his voice was cracking now, shaking like the rest of his body, “what happened? What's the secret?”

     “You know, Rei-chan. You've always known. Remember that day we were walking to school, it was on the busier side of town. You wanted to change up your jogging route.”

     Yes, he remembered now. Since he usually jogged where there weren't many people, he had wanted a change of scenery for Nagisa who had joined him, wanted to show him this new bakery that had just opened up and buy him something for once. They had been jogging past a busy roadway, when he thought he would show off and maybe scare Nagisa a little. He calculated the flow of traffic, taking into account sleepy drivers' reaction time, and darted across the road in a gap in the cars, using all his track skills to dodge them all. He trusted in his calculations to lead him to the other side of the road, and they had. He just hadn't predicted that terrified cry of his name, that ear-splitting shriek of tires, and that splash of red as Nagisa's limp body tumbled through the air and hit the pavement with a sickening crack. Nagisa had followed after him. That had not been in his calculations. Nagisa was not supposed to follow after him.

     Rei fell to his knees, as he had that day, hyperventilating. Why was his vision so blurry? He still had his glasses on. Oh, he wss crying, repeating a mantra of Nagisa's name. “Oh god, I'm so sorry, Nagisa, I'm so sorry. You were my only friend, and I killed you. I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry.”

     Weightless arms wrapped around his shoulders, rocking him back and forth as Nagisa cooed, “I know, Rei-chan. I know.” Rei looked at him, but his face now had a streak of blood and he let out a terrified sob.

     Then the cold weight of Makoto's arms were also around him, sucking out any of his body heat. “The Nagisa you see right now isn't real. He is born of your feelings for him. Your feelings of love, your feelings of friendship, and your feelings of guilt.”

     “He was created so you could make up for lost time.” Now Haru's arms are around him too. He is completely surrounded by death. “To form the swim club that Nagisa had always wanted. To act on your feelings for him. To lead the life you'll never get to live now, because of your hubris.” With each word, Rei could feel a little bit of air leave him. “And now he's beyond even our reach.” All his fault. All of this was his fault.

     After he felt like his breathing had calmed down, the arms around Rei lifted him up and towards the pool. The water was as warm as if it were a hot summer day.

     “Come on, Rei-chan,” Nagisa's voice was like music in his right ear. “You still have to learn butterfly. I just know you'll be great at it.” The rusty color of his blood clashed horribly with the rosy magenta of his eyes.

     “We'll help you along,” Makoto was pulling him along. “You don't have to worry about a thing.” His blazer was pulled off of his shoulders to float to the side.

     “After you learn this stroke,” Haru whispered gently from his side, guiding him forward, “you'll have joined the real Iwatobi swim club. We can be in the water forever.”

     He got into position and rolled his shoulders forward. He swam a perfect butterfly stroke, no hands to support him this time. He could see Nagisa floating ahead, falling deeper into the darkness, calling out encouraging words to him. To his left, Haru told him to accept the water, and to his right, Makoto praised his technique. He swam towards Nagisa, but the boy remained always out of reach. He knew that Nagisa wasn't really there, that they could never join the swim club together. Nagisa was somewhere else, and he wouldn't want to spend eternity with his murderer. And Rei didn't deserve to.

     The world was getting darker, and Nagisa dimmer, but he could still hear the whispered, “I love you, Rei-chan. I forgive you.” The words were sweet in their falsity.

 

* * *

 

 

     On a Wednesday afternoon, Gou Matsuoka and her homeroom teacher, Amakata, burst through the door leading to the rooftop pool. The sun was glinting merrily on the water and on the body that once housed Rei Ryuugazaki.

     Amakata dropped her keys so she could stifle her shriek. She had let this boy use this pool out of some misguided pity. She wa a murderer. A murderer of children.

     Gou held her arms, trying to stifle the shiver that was wracking her body. This pool must really be cursed.

 

**Author's Note:**

> And as all good stories do, it ends with everyone dead.
> 
> I've always been a fan of yandere Makoto, and so I couldn't resist throwing him in here. Especially if you read the High Speed novel when he develops his fear of deep water and talks about the Something in the water. Maybe that Something was real? Maybe that Something lured these boys to their deaths.


End file.
